Digital Access

The reason this page is here is to tell people about digital access, what problems there are and how we can solve them. Digital Access is insuring that everyone no matter who they has access to the internet.
Overall about access and subtopics

Access is a very important thing in life. The ten most important terms that have to do with Access are: connect, internet, access, obtain, retrieve, regain and gate way which all mean that there is or you can access something although in particular, the internet. Those are the most important key terms that either relate or are the same as the meaning “access”. Access can mean a lot of things. You can have access to a car, house, internet and many more things. There are also sub-topics which include: infrastructure, education, censorship, identity and the most important is digital divide. These sub-topics are very important in access to the internet and show a lot, although they also have their positives and negatives.
Infrastructure can be very useful although on the other hand can be bad. You need communication to get access to the internet and it is easy to get. A positive thing is that communication is through the satellite which now you don’t have to buy anything or do anything to get the satellite except for a disk. A negative point to infrastructure is that not everyone has access to the satellite and doesn’t have a disk so they don’t have wireless connection to the internet.

Education is very important as well. Without the education of how to access the internet, you can’t do anything. A positive point is that if you have the education you can simply go on the internet and automatically be able to do things and know how it works. On the other hand, the negative possibilities with not knowing anything can be very difficult. Without the education, you would get on the internet and not know how to do anything compared to someone who has had the experience and knows how to use everything. For example, the person with education could immediately respond to a blog or profile, unlike someone who hasn’t had the education and who would not know how to do anything and be very confusing for them.

Censorship is another problem although it can also be helpful. Censorship is when you are not allowed to do something and if you do you will be in trouble by the government. For example, in China they have censorship and they are not allowed to look certain things up on the internet. Censorship can be both good and bad. It can be bad because it is one less thing you can look up and it may be important to you, although it is religion or the law. Censorship isn’t completely bad. It can be good because it can prevent and protect other countries or their government from crime. It may also prevent people of thinking of other things in a bad way.

Identity is a topic that people may not think about as access. Although it is. Identity can be shown on the computer or on the internet. When you have access to the internet your identity can be shown through various ways for example, Facebook and MySpace through profiles, pictures and the network. It is a positive thing because now you can show your identity to other people around the world. You can also show it without the internet such as, passports and material items (clothes, house, car, etc.) It is a negative thing to because when you show things on the internet such as your identity, someone can steal it or can get to much information about you and can be dangerous.

Digital Divide is probably the most important and simplest topic. Digital Divide is basically having a line and putting the people that don’t have access to the internet on one side and the ones that do on the other side. It is positive because it can show you how many people around the world have access to the internet and what part of the world doesn’t. It can be a bad thing as well. It may put people in the wrong idea and some may say that it is too simple to separate people like that into sections. And that it is basically saying and dividing the people into rich people and poor people.

1. Overview/Description of the various aspects of the topic.

Digital Access is how kids all over the world access the internet.

Elementary Aged Students

Elementary students access their computers mostly by computer, and some of them have cellphones.
They use the computers by going to build a bear, club penguin, webkinz, and some of them even go to youtube.
You wouldn't think that younger children could access a computer so well.

Middle/ High School Aged Students
Middle school and high school students access their computers on cell phones, lap tops, pocket pc's and even the new generations of ipod can acsess the Internet (iPhone iPod Touch), etc.
They can access the Internet through all of these devices. Most teens access chat like MSN as well as social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook, and other
social networks on the Internet. They can get internet on computers by joining a local wi-fi like at a coffee
shop, at school, or at a business. Digital Access is how everyday people access their computers and the Internet.

Teens Access Their Computers

Adults

Adults access the Internet in various place. Like at home, work, cafe's, hotels, in the car, and a lot of other places.

72% of U.S. adults now have Broadband access. Those who don't get it go to work, public libraries, schools, and as well as on their cell phones.

In Australia 74.3 people access the internet but only 22.8 percent of people have broadband access.

A digital system is one that uses discrete values (often electrical voltages), representing numbers or non-numeric symbols such as letters or icons, for input, processing, transmission, storage, or display, rather than a continuous range of values. Access is the ability to use or approach something. Digital Access is the ability to use icons ect…. to access the internet. Over the years digital Access has changed. There are a lot ofdigital access countries. These countries are Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, South Korea, Netherlands, China, Finland, Canada, and The United States.

2. Background of the topic including specific real examples.

Describe background.

Elementary Aged Students

Elementary students use computers for different things. They mostly go to websites that have games for kids to play. Millsberry, Build a bear, Webkinz, and Club penguin are all places that children could create their own animated avatar type stuff. They go to places like PBSkids, Postopia, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney Channel to play games on. Some even go to Youtube to watch videos. Very few own cell phones, although the number is growing.

Middle/ High School Aged Students

Digital Access is really the access to the Internet. How teens can access the Internet from all over the world. Some have smart phones such as: iPhone, Palm Treo, and the Blackberry. Some teens have their own laptops they can use while others just use a stationary computer found mainly in houses. There are many things that teens can access the Internet. Digital Access has changed a lot over the
past few years. This video will tell some of the ways it has changed. Not just teens, many people of different ages and places around the world are accessing the Internet.

Some high digital access countries are Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, South Korea, Netherlands, China, Finland, Canada, and The United States. Although it seems like the whole world and everyone is accessing the Internet, it isn't always true. About a quarter or less of the world has access to the Internet. Most teens who have digital access maintain more than one social networking profile. Some teens restrict access just to profiles, although “friends” who can access their profiles are numbering in the hundreds. Some sites teens may access are Myspace and Facebook for social networking, and Yahoo and MSN for e-mailing. Many teens even access eBay, Amazon, Ticketmaster, and other online shopping websites. Computers are becoming more prevalent, and computer skills are becoming more necessary, so there continues to be a "digital divide" between those with computer access and skills and those without. Even though digital access is soaring in schools, this “digital divide” still exists at home for the minority.

Adults

Write an overview of this topic as it relates to adults.

3. Social / ethical aspects of the topic including how real people and communities have been positively or negatively affected and legal consequences

Elementary Aged Students

Write an overview of this topic as it relates to elementary aged students.

Middle/ High School Aged Students

Digital Access has brought teens all over the world together. Which is good in most ways, such websites as the digiteen have brought kids together to learn. Although some web sites such as Myspace have good and bad benefits. It has brought some teens together, but it has made some kids take their life. Parent security is also very important. I know that most teens including me don't like there parents hanging over you while you are on the computer. It is safe to ask an adult if a certain website is okay. It is also ok if the parent knows what sight you are on eg. Facebook but it is not ok for the parent to look through your e-mails and find out what you are up to because everyone as a privite life and you wouldn't want your parents finding out what you get up to on Facebook or other sites. Your parents should be able to check every now and then to see what sight you are on but then go off and mind their own business. If your parents wanted to know more about the site that you are on then they should go on the site and check it out for themselves and then if they don't think it is any good for you or your siblings then they should talk to you about it and what you can do.
This can also include that, say, if someone gets a bullying e-mail then they could get angry and take it out on someone else like their mom or dad.

Adults

Write an overview of this topic as it relates to adults.

4. Possible solutions to the problems that have emerged.

Elementary Aged Students

Write an overview of this topic as it relates to elementary aged students.

Middle/ High School Aged Students

Middle school and high school students need to know that the computer is not everything and kids need to let their parents become more aware of what they are doing on the Internet. Kids should also be more aware of the websites they get on are safe and nothing real bad takes place on them.
The kids could tell the parents what they are doing on the Internet and then, if the parents don't understand, the kid could explain it to them and tell them what they do on the website like chat, download pictures, etc. that would solve the problem of the kids shutting the parents out of their lives and the parents know some of the things that they do on the Internet. The parents should have a system, were say the kid is only allowed on the internet or the computer in general so that they are not on all the time and then they should go outside to get some sun light instead of staying indoors. I think that kids these days are not getting enough time outside than they use to cause they are spending to much time in the internet or just playing games that is why we think that the parents should only let their kid/kids on the computer for say 3 days a week or they should say that their kid(s) are only allowed on the computer for say one hour.

Adults

I think that one of the main problems for adults and kids with accessing the Internet around the world is, simply, their location. People who live in the city would have no problem finding a computer to go on the Internet and do as they want, but we have to think about people who live out in the desert and don’t even have access to a phone, let alone the Internet. Also, what about the people who live in third world countries? What are they going to do? They might not even know what a computer or Internet is.I’m not saying that we should just distribute heaps of computers to everywhere round the world, but it would be nice if we put more effort into giving them the chance to understand and access the online digital world.